Against the Kobolds!
The group gathered at the intersection and looked down the western passageway. That was the direction that the dragon had come from and it seemed the most likely direction that the Kobolds had retreated to. Wasting no time, they headed down the corridor.
Less than a dozen paces brought them to a side passage that contained a stairway leading upwards. They decided that for the moment, they would press on and check the stairs later. A few paces later, they met resistance.
A pair of crossbow bolts flew out of the darkness ahead. Once bounced off of the sturdy platemail of the dwarf but he was slightly wounded by the other. Speaks and Rhys let the dwarf take the lead down the passage since he was the only one who could see who was shooting at them.
Raven charged forward with warhammer raised high, bent on teaching the pair of Kobolds a lesson. As he moved toward them, he could see that the passageway they followed took an abrupt turn ahead and the cowardly Kobolds were crouched around the corner. He also noted that a narrower side passage branched off ahead. But there was no time to ponder the mine layout for now. He charged ahead as fast as his short legs would carry him in his heavy armor. (That'd be precisely 45 feet at a dead run.)
Speaks and Rhys ran (jogged really) after the dwarf, readying their weapons as they went. Another pair of bolts flew up the hallway, this time one of them struck Rhys.
Raven continued to run down the hallway toward the Kobolds. He was met with an unfortunate surprise when he passed the side passage: A Kobold hidden some 15 feet up the passage shot a pair of Magic Missiles at him. Ahead, he noted that the Kobolds at the corner had withdrawn around the bend in the passage. Growling in frustration, he stepped out of view from the side passage and put his back against the wall. He took a couple of deep breaths and then dashed into the side passage, hoping to take the Kobold there by surprise.
The Kobold was anything but surprised. The dwarf sounded like a bag full of scrap iron being thrown down the hallway. The Kobold had moved further up the side passage and as Raven found himself a short way up the passage without a target for his hammer, the Kobold let him have it with another pair of Magic Missiles.
Raven backpedaled out of the side passage and took cover again. Speaks and Rhys had been covering the corner ahead, ready to fire on any Kobolds who dared poke their heads into view. Speaks looked at Raven who wore a mask of pain from the various bits of ranged damage he had taken. Speaks spoke, "I think we need to withdraw and regroup. They're killing us with those Magic Missiles. You're the only one who can see them in the dark and you're too slow to catch them."
Raven hated to admit to defeat, especially by Kobolds. But he couldn't help but agree with the wisdom of the Druid. "Alright then. Let's be off." With that, the group began to withdraw.
Back at the intersection, they turned back to the left to exit the mine. As they went, Rhys dropped back to the back of the group and stationed himself a short ways from the intersection and readied his crossbow. He stashed away his Everburning Torch and waited, hoping that one of their assailants would carelessly walk around the corner, easy pickings for one of his precise attacks.
Unfortunately, it was one of the Kobolds straight ahead down the central shaft who spotted Rhys. The Kobold sent an arrow at Rhys, which he barely dodged. Rhys decided to leave the mines to the Kobolds for today and withdrew.
Back outside, the trio fell back to the smelting-works to catch a breather. Clearly they couldn't go back in until they had healed and regained some of their spells. All of them cast about for some way that they could counter the brutally effective ambush tactics used by the Kobolds. Raven spotted a group of mine carts in a corner of the building and walked over to them. He began to get an idea. Not a very good idea, but an idea nonetheless.
Raven wanted to turn a pair of the mine carts into "war wagons". They could serve as barriers to the Kobold's missile fire as they advanced into the mines. He informed the others that he would need some other boards to affix to the carts to provide additional shielding for those taller than himself. He searched about and found some additional timbers but they were thick mine supports and too large to work with. He then began to eye the thick, rough-cut planks that made up the walls of the building. He set to work chopping at them until he had freed several. The planks were thick and ugly but they would work.
"Now I just need some nails," said Raven. But alas, no nails could be found. The building was constructed with pegs. Raven decided that his expertise at woodworking (i.e. none) was not sufficient to make his war wagons without some nails. Speaks offered that he knew a spell that could mold the wood into whatever shape they wanted without using any nails but he would need to pray for it the next day.
The three of them retreated back to the tower to rest the night. Upon arriving, they noticed that Krase, hero of the north, was beginning to smell a bit ripe. Speaks resolved to do something about that situation on the following day. The trio raised the drawbridge and settled in for the night.
In the morning, they carried Krase's body outside and to the base of the tower stairs. Speaks called upon the stone of the staircase to accept his body and the rock became soft and malleable. Both Speaks and Raven gave prayers from their respective beliefs asking that the stone receive their brother. Slowly, Krase's lifeless form was pushed into the vertical section of stone. Then Speaks molded the surrounding stone over him and began to work it with his hands. Gradually over the period of an hour, he crafted the stone into a reasonable likeness of Krase. He was posed heroically fighting a Gnoll, just the way he died.
If the Gnolls had reason to fear the tower before, they would fear it doubly so now.
Somewhat sobered by the morning's events, the trio wordlessly made their way back to the smelting-works wary of a Kobold ambush. They saw none of them.
Raven retrieved a pair of the thick support braces stacked in the corner of the building and brought them to the Druid. Speaks used a spell similar to the one he had used to mold Krase into the stone to mold the stout braces into thinner sheets of wood and to mold their bases onto the mine carts. When he was done, they had a pair of mantlets on wheels.
"So, how exactly will we use these devices friend, Raven?" asked Speaks.
Raven responded, "Well, we'll push one ahead and pull the other behind"
Rhys raised an eyebrow, "That's going to be noisy as all hell!"
Raven rounded on the much taller Sorcerer, "I'm already as noisy as all hell!"
Speaks commented, "It'll be slow too."
It was the dwarf's turn to raise an eyebrow.
Speaks relented. "Fine, fine. I'm going to go and gather some berries to provide us with plenty of nourishment and minor healing. I suspect we'll need both." With that, the Druid made his way off into the woods.
Rhys yearned for action but sensed that little would be had that day. "So, Raven, what do we do now?"
The dwarf responded, "Let's head back to the tower. I want to prepare a couple of scrolls for tomorrow."
Rhys inquired, "What about the 'war wagons'?"
Raven responded, "Leave em' here. We'll get them on our way into the mines tomorrow morning."
They headed back to the tower. As they went, Rhys muttered under his breath that picking berries and writing scrolls wasn't much of an adventure.
NEXT: Against the Kobolds! (part 2)
! Looking forward to see whether they press on or not...
))) No was definitely not tough enough!
. I'll get on the stick and put something up by this evening. I needed to spend some time at my mother-in-law's with my wife this past weekend; Mom-in-law had a knee replaced and needed help for the first few days home from the hospital.
